The holidays are a time when many children receive new toys and gifts to play with throughout the season.
Parents today have to be very careful about what toys a child receives. Some toys today are not appropriate for small children. Others are manufactured irresponsibly in order to save money. Certain toys might even pose serious safety risks to kids that were not immediately detected by the manufacturers or other inspectors.
This might have been the cause of the death of a little girl two days after Christmas. Brian and Stephanie Florer lived in a very rural area of Oklahoma with their two-year-old daughter named Brianna. The family was having a typical Christmas. Brianna received new toys and clothes under the tree. It was just after Christmas that Brianna started to feel ill. Her grandfather even took note that she did not seem to be doing well. Her parents monitored her condition for some time. Brianna eventually started to vomit and turn a bluish tint. This is when her parents rushed her to a Tulsa, Oklahoma hospital.
Doctors immediately operated on her but could do nothing to save the girl. She died that day. Detailed X-rays show that Brianna had swallowed a tiny button battery at some point.The battery might have passed out of her system without doing harm except that it became lodged in her esophagus. Doctors think the battery started leaking an alkaline substance that burned through Brianna’s carotid artery leading to internal bleeding.
The parents were devastated. Nearly 12,000 kids swallowed batteries between 2005 and 2014 although only 15 have died. The family has a GoFundMe page now to help with the final expenses for Brianna.
